Just Practicing

One of my primary concerns in buying our house was the proximity of the kids' bedrooms to ours. Actually, a majority of homes we looked at had this issue so there didn't seem to be a great solution. But, we bought the house anyway despite any misgivings. The middle of the night hike-across-the-house is annoying but not super bad. A bigger concern is safety. I have little kids so I think about these things.

While living in Madison, Clark and I spent an evening talking about safety plans. Mostly to do with how we would get the kids out of the house in the middle of the night in case of fire. It wasn't a hugely enjoyable topic. I tend to have a wild imagination (almost like Anne of Green Gables). Since being in our new home for only a month, we had yet to have the safety conversation. However, we put our skills to the test at approximately 4 AM this morning.

Clark and I were jarred out of sleep by blaring alarms going off. Instinct instantly kicked in and we out of bed running madly to the boys bedrooms. It felt strange wrenching Russell out of the crib - he was still sound asleep. I'm sure Clark felt the same way getting Jaron. We quickly exited the house, the whole time frantically wondering where a fire could be. We didn't see fire or smell smoke.

Once outside, we looked around for more signs but didn't see any. Clark was ready to go back in and check things out. In my super adrenaline high I wouldn't have anything of it. So we marched across the street and rang our neighbor's doorbell. I was intent on calling the fire department.

I have to say, we lucked out in where we bought our house. Right across the street from us is an awesome family who are members of the church. They have teenagers - so not the same stage of life. I've been grateful for their immediate, loving friendship. She has kept me sane during this change, especially from feelings of complete isolation.

Anyway, there we were, ringing their doorbell. I've never done this to a neighbor before! They both came to the door relatively soon. He determined it was most likely our security system going haywire. (Yes, there is an installed security system; it apparently doesn't work very well.) He and Clark went back over and were there a good 10 minutes trying to turn off the fire alarm. Eventually they did. We are still not sure what went wrong. We went back home and crawled back into bed. The boys easily went back to sleep. I laid there for quite awhile thinking "what-if".

I guess we just chalk that up to practice. It was still nerve-wracking. I'm so grateful that we had taken the time to plan. There was never any question in my mind who I was responsible for and what I would do in any situation. I'm glad it turned out not to be a real emergency, but if it had been, who has time for indecision or uncertainty?! So if you are reading this and don't have a plan, will you make one please. At least, talk with your spouse about how you would handle a situation. I'm so grateful we did!